The Calm After The Storm

I awoke a day or two later, my mind fuzzy with thoughts of rain and dragons. Every time I tried to make sense of what happened everything would grow foggy and abstract, as if the rain was caused by the mouth of the dragon, or that the dragon was not actually a dragon. I could not find sense, and sleep pulled me back anytime I tried to find it. Chaos, destruction, and rain... that's all that rallied my being in those long hours of sleep and nightmares.

Then there was a dream, at least I thought it to be a dream. I was in the forest once more, trying to find my sense, when I heard something large moving next to me. Yellow eyes struck my soul and the dragon reached out as if to eat me, and words came from his mouth in the form of a putrid stench. "Your efforts are worthless, you cannot save what you wish to save, and surely you'll be left with only a grave. Every time an answer you seek, another falls and another grows week, but all will die... that is the rule of your magic eye."

I bolted upright from my sleeping position on one of Merlin's cots, retching at the memory of that dreadful smell. My breath came in gasps and my head was pounding, my surroundings appeared fuzzy, as if they were not really my surroundings, and I thought for a moment that the dragon would come to break down the room.

"Fia!" Merlin was at my side, grabbing my arm to check my pulse. "You should not have sat up so quickly, how are you feeling?"

"My head hurts." I muttered, reaching my hand up to my right temple. My fingers found the rough texture of a bandage that was wrapped around my head.

Merlin reached up and undid the bandage slowly. "You slammed against that rock pretty hard, we were worried you had a severe concussion that couldn't be fixed, but i'd say you're doing quite well." Merlin took a cloth to my head and dabbed at it gently. "You look much better." Merlin smiled at me, great dark circles under his eyes and a mess of hair told of his lack of sleep.

I laid back down, tired already from sitting up. "What happened?" I asked. "I can't remember."

"Well, when Aurelius came back in from his little match, he came to speak with me for a bit, as he usual does. After a while we heard the sound of thunder and Edgar came bursting out of the room, scaring Aurelius quite a bit, which I found humorous, and explained that since you are of a fire magic rain is very dangerous and could drain you until you were unable to move. Aurelius then started yelling at me for not knowing such things and we left to find you. Aurelius grabbed his bow and arrows in case of a wolf, whatever that meant, and we searched for you until we found you slammed against the rock." Merlin gave me a look which made me feel very young and ignorant. "You should have been more careful, Fia. I did not like that your carelessness caused a dragon's death."

"Are you kidding me? That thing was going to kill me and you're upset that I was a victim?"

Merlin shook his head, "No, that is not what I am saying. You were careless and wandered into the dragon's home, and dragons are territorial creatures and it was simply trying to survive, which would have just been easier if you had just come back. There are very few dragons left, and I fear their race, while given a bad reputation, will be killed out for simply being protective." I thought about the weird feeling I had after Aurelius had killed that wolf, oddly similar to the words of Merlin. "We are not human, Fia, and I expect you to act as such. Our people do not kill out of fear, and we certainly do not walk into situations like you did. I am simply grateful you survived, do not take me wrong, but you are young and also need to be educated on such things." Merlin turned his gaze downward, his eyes heavier than I have ever seen them. "Those are the kinds of things mother and father would have told you, had they have been here. I am sorry if they sound brash, I did pretty much the same at your age. Looking back I feel i'd do it again if it only meant hearing their voices... When our people turned into a people of silence I thought I would never hear them talk again... and I suppose now I never will."

I sat up slowly and rested a hand on Merlin's arm. "We will save them, Merlin. It is our destiny." The haunting words of the dragon jumped up in my mind, but I pushed them away. I knew my destiny, a dream-dragon simply would not tell me otherwise.